Summer with Mary Anne
by friendly fire 121
Summary: Mary Anne is having a difficult time. She and her boyfriend are having problems, her stepmother hates her, she is having troubles with friends, she has a new job, and something sinister is going on--a mystery?
1. Chapter 1

-1Mary Anne's Summer

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, except the one's I made up, and I don't own the baby-sitters club.

Chapter One

Mary Anne winced when her alarm clock rang out clear. Even knowing that it was the last day of tenth grade did not comfort her. She groaned. She liked to learn and school wasn't all that bad but so much had changed in the last year. She was having problems with her boyfriend, Logan Bruno, for one thing.

Logan and Mary Anne had dated all throughout eighth grade and then broke up just before they graduated that grade. Logan experimented with many girls during their freshmen year of school but last summer Logan and Mary Anne had gotten back together. A couple of months ago, Mary Anne had made a big mistake which had caused them to break up temporarily. They were back together now but Mary Anne knew that he hadn't completely forgiven her. She hadn't completely forgiven herself, in fact.

On top of that, Mary Anne's estranged stepsister was coming home for the summer. Halfway through their freshmen year, Dawn had gone after Logan. That did not end well and Mary Anne and Dawn's friendship had gone down the drain.

Claudia Kishi, another longtime friend, had ditched Mary Anne and Kristy several months ago so that she could hang out with 'cool' people. She was now friends with cool girls and guys, a group that Logan belonged too.

Stacey McGill was still friends with Mary Anne but she had become quite a legend within days of starting High School. In result, she had become the queen bee of the school. At least she had kept her morals. She still did well in school, especially excelling in math, watched her blood sugar levels, hung out with the 'cool' crowd while still finding time for Mary Anne and Kristy.

Kristy would be gone for the summer as she was going to some national leaders convention in Albany, New York. Mary Anne was proud of Kristy but really did not want to spend the summer without her best friend. Kristy was her one constant in her life. Yes, Logan would be here as would Stacey but Logan was still distant with Mary Anne and Stacey had a hundred other things to do.

Abby Stevenson was still around as well. Mary Anne was not particularly close to her but sat with Abby and her friends at lunch with Kristy. Abby still played an abnormal amount of sports. She would be participating in a athletic camp for children in StoneyBrook that summer.

Mallory would be back from her boarding school soon enough, and she had decided to return to StoneyBrook for High School. She and Jesse had missed each other immensely and Mallory figured that people had forgotten about her. They were a little young to be hanging out with. They were good friends but really weren't interested in the same things as Mary Anne was.

On top of all of that, Mary Anne had to worry about her stepmother. Her stepmother had become an extreme pain in the neck. Without knowing why Mary Anne and Dawn were fighting, she had taken Dawn's side so Mary Anne was left with an angry Step mother. Luckily, Mary Anne's father had taken no sides but supported Mary Anne when the fights began. Mary Anne hated confrontation so it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to be at home.

There were two things that Mary Anne was excited about for the summer: she would be baby-sitting, and she had gotten a job at the local bookstore. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays Mary Anne would be working from 9am to 5pm for 7.50 an hour. On Tuesdays and Thursday she would be baby-sitting the Johnson children because their single mother had decided to go back to college. From 8am to 2pm Mary Anne would be watching two little boys and a girl for 6.00 an hour.

"Mary Anne," yelled Sharon, Mary Anne's stepmother, "get down here, you need to get to school!"

"I'm coming." Mary Anne stumbled around trying to find something to wear. She finally decided on a pair of denim capris and a green cap-sleeve empire top. She slipped on some green flip flops. She slipped the silver necklace that Logan had given her for her last birthday around her neck. She brushed her hair, now longer than shoulder length, and placed a green headband on her head. After putting some mascara on, she scrambled around and started throwing all her school supplies into her backpack. Finally five minutes later, she was racing down the stairs.

Sharon was standing there, with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. "What took you so long?"

"I overslept. I only woke up twenty minutes ago." Mary Anne said, softly.

"Well, Logan is already here to pick you up," hissed Sharon. Logan had his license and a car. Mary Anne wouldn't be turning sixteen until September thanks to her very late birthday so Logan was her ride. She could picture the irritated look in his blue eyes and grimaced. "He's waiting outside."

Sharon smirked at Mary Anne when Mary Anne looked at her. Glaring, Mary Anne went into the kitchen, grabbed a granola bar, and picked up a juice box. "You better hope that you have lunch money because I am not giving you any." Mary Anne opened the front door while hearing her stepmothers laughter. She felt tears spring to her eyes, she didn't have any money with her, but her stepmothers cruelty had gotten to Mary Anne the most. Why did her stepmother hate her so much?

Mary Anne was one of the most sensitive girls one could ever meet. Her big brown eyes were sensitive and she was hurt very easily by people's cruel words. She felt like it was a curse. She wished she could shrug off cruel comments like Stacey. She wished she could deal with conflict the way that Kristy or even Logan did.

She took a deep breath and walked towards the dark blue car that Logan owned. Even from the distance, she could see the irritation on his face. She flinched.

Almost immediately after she had slid into the car, and buckled herself in, Logan sped off. There was an uncomfortable silence permeating the car suffocating Mary Anne. After getting half way to school, Logan finally spoke up. "What's wrong?" He sounded a little worried and the irritation had disappeared for the time being.

"Sharon. And I feel bad about making you wait. We could be late." Mary Anne glanced over at Logan, whose blue eyes were now kinder.

"Don't worry about me, I'll get over it. What did Sharon do now?" He sounded angry at her stepmother.

She really liked how sweet Logan could be despite all that had happened between them the last time they had broken up.

"She just said some nasty things towards me. I am just overly sensitive." Mary Anne really hated her impossible sensitivity. Logan smiled, however.

"Aw, but that's what I like about you. You are such a sweet, caring, beautiful girl. Your stepmother is just a bitch." He scowled when he spoke about her stepmother. More tears sprang to her eyes as she flushed pink. Why was he being so sweet? "You really shouldn't let her get to you. She has no right to treat like she does. You did nothing wrong."

Mary Anne smiled. Logan parked the car in the school parking lot and looked over, catching Mary Anne's smile. "There's that smile I like so much." He leaned over and kissed her which ended up being a full out make out session. This time around, the relationship had gotten more physical although it had never escalated to far. He always stopped himself short of sex. At first, when they had gotten back together, she had the misguided notion that she had to apologize to him by having sex with him but he had stopped her and said, "Not until you are truly ready." Despite that, Mary Anne could feel the tension in him more and more, it was making her nervous.

A few minutes later Mary Anne pulled away, flushed and trembling. "We really have to get to class."

"Fine." snapped Logan, causing Mary Anne to flinch. "Damn it, don't do that!"

"I'm sorry." Logan looked at her for a second.

"Why do you always apologize when you didn't do anything wrong?" Mary Anne took that as a rhetorical question. It really didn't need to be answered. His voice softened again. "Come on, let's go." And he slipped his hands into hers, reassuring her that everything was fine. He had become irritable lately and Mary Anne was curious to know why but he never talked about his personal problems anymore. It was as if he didn't really trust her, but Mary Anne guessed that she deserved it and more.

She walked into the school beside Logan. "Hey, Logan!" several voices rang out and a pretty blond haired girl threw herself at Logan.

"What the hell are you doing, Sara." Logan grumbled at Sara, his hand still holding Mary Anne's.

"Come on, baby. You don't want to be with that cheating slut especially when you could have a good time with me." Sara glared at Mary Anne as she said those horrible words. Logan rolled his eyes.

"Oh, that's rich, coming from you. Haven't you slept with almost half of the school."

"Yes, but I've never cheated." Sara smirked at Mary Anne's humiliation. Mary Anne wanted to run and cry but she would not cry in front of this bitch. She would never live it down despite being known as the cry baby.

"Shut up, Sara. Mary Anne is my girlfriend and I have no interest in sluts so that kind of leaves you out of the equation." Mary Anne blinked, surprised. Logan was standing up for her. She flashed back to the weeks when they weren't together and people had scrawled slut across her locker. On top of that people had called her names all day long. She often had to sit in the bathroom and cry. Kristy, Abby, and Stacey had stood up for her but Logan had still been angry. Although he never participated in the hurtful acts, he never spoke to her or denounced the cruel treatment.

"Whatever, when you decide to leave the slut, come to me, baby." Sara licked her lips and flounced off.

"Well, what are you looking at? Get lost!" Came Kristy's angry tone. Stacey was standing to her right with some of her other friends. She flashed a sympathetic smile Mary Anne's way. Stacey had kept most of hoards away from Mary Anne over the past few months, because of her own popularity, but it still had been hard.

Logan squeezed Mary Anne's hand and bent down, giving her a kiss. "I'll see you later. We still on for dinner and a movie tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm having a girls night tomorrow though." Mary Anne said, blushing a little at the kiss. She always felt self-conscious doing that in front of people.

"Pick you up at seven. Do you realize how adorable you are?" He winked at her as he walked off. Immediately he was surrounded by his guy friends but, thankfully, no girls were hanging off of him.

Stacey, Stacey's friends, Kristy, and Abby walked up to Mary Anne.

"I don't know why they cannot leave you alone. So, you made a mistake. Logan doesn't seem overly angry about it anymore why should anyone else be?" ranted Kristy, when she noticed the tears that were in Mary Anne's eyes.

"I know, really. Sara sleeps with everybody and their brothers, and you've never slept with anybody. Honestly," spoke up Abby angrily.

"Thanks." mumbled Mary Anne, still feeling like a slut, but they were right: she was still a virgin at least.

Stacey shot a passing couple a glare when they opened to make a nasty comment. She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder and turned away from the couple. "Come on, we don't want to miss our last day of school, do we?"

One of Stacey's friends, Maggie, laughed. "You just want to be able to see Tony more quickly."

Stacey smirked and shrugged. "So what if I do." Laughter rang out, and she winked at Mary Anne, before leaving for class. She had Calculus that period. Mary Anne and Kristy had English literature first period while Abby had History.

Kristy put an arm around Mary Anne who still looked upset and they went to class.

Notes: Ok here's chapter one of my story. Tell me what you think. I just wanted to say that this story isn't all about Logan and Mary Anne's relationship but it is one of the main conflicts in this story. All the baby-sitters club will probably be part of this story and other recognizable people like Cokie and Pete Black.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own anybody or anything related to Ann M. Martin.

Chapter Two

Biting her lip, Mary Anne walked into her first period class with Kristy by her side. Mrs. Turner glared at the two of them when they walked in as the final bell rang. "Sit down, Miss Spier and Miss. Thomas." Kristy rolled her eyes at the woman but she and Mary Anne sat down.

Mrs. Turner was a grumpy fifty year old, graying woman, who enjoyed tormenting her students. "Today, I am going to pass out your last essay grade, your oral report grade, and your final exam grade. Most of you did an abysmal job."

Cokie Mason laughed out loud, but she abruptly stopped when Mrs. Turner turned her yellow eyes to Cokie. Cokie slid down in her seat. Kristy snickered under breath. Cokie had always been a pain in the butt. She hated Kristy and, especially, Mary Anne. Cokie had liked Logan for longer than Mary Anne could remember. When Mary Anne and Logan were broken up she had seen him and Cokie frequenting movies together while making out.

"What a stupid bitch." mumbled Kristy, glaring at Cokie as the class began to chat around them because Mrs. Turner was handing out the grades.

"You shouldn't--" Mary Anne was cut off by Cokie's irritating voice.

"Hey, Mary Anne! I saw you and Logan today. Did you finally put out for him?" Cokie said all of this with an evil grin. "Oh, wait, of course you have, you put out for Pete, didn't you? Logan's best friend. Why you slut!"

People from all sides started to laugh. Mary Anne looked down at her notebook blindly. Her eyes were filling with tears. She tried to calm herself down. She felt Kristy's hand resting on her back, rubbing circles.

"Shut up, Cokie. You really are one to talk aren't you?" Kristy smirked when that shut Cokie up. Mary Anne bit her lip, Cokie would get them back for that. Boy, did Mary Anne hate conflict. Kristy was referring to the time when Cokie had slept with her best friends, or rather ex-best friends, boyfriend.

At least the laughter had stopped and people went back to their talking. Mary Anne really wanted to run out of the classroom and find somewhere where she could cry, along. She could do this, she wasn't out of glass besides she had brought this on herself. Trembling, she took a deep breath and looked up at Kristy, who immediately smiled at her.

"God, I don't even want to know what I got on the essay." Kristy groaned, she had stayed up all night the night before the essay was due writing the essay.

"I'm sure you did fine. You always do. At least you didn't have to leave in the middle of your oral presentation to 'go the bathroom.'" Grumbled Mary Anne, remembering that horrifying experience. Kristy laughed.

"Nobody could out do that. Despite that, it was a well thought out presentation so you probably made up for your delivery. I don't think your perfect straight A's are in danger."

"I hope not--" once again, Mary Anne was cut off. This time Mrs. Turner was holding out her oral score and Kristy's.

"Yes!" Kristy shouted, waving the large red A in front of Mary Anne's face. Mary Anne looked down at her own grade: a B+. She breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Congrats, Kristy!" Mary Anne said, smiling. She realized that her smile seemed forced. She hadn't truly smiled in a long time.

Kristy stopped jumping around and shouting "Yes!" and sat back down. She looked worried. "Did you do all right?"

"Yeah, got a B+." Kristy smiled and began to stare at her A. Kristy was a good student but she got more B's than she got A's whereas Mary Anne received more A's than B's. Near the end of the class period both Mary Anne and Kristy got their essay grade and their final grade from the teacher. Mary Anne was relieved to see an A for both, actually she received an A+ on the essay. Kristy had gotten an A on the final but her essay received a C+ to her immense displeasure.

When only fifteen minutes remained in the class, Mary Anne's tense shoulders began to be less tense. The bell rang fifteen minutes later and Mary Anne breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Mary Anne!" Mary Anne closed her eyes, praying that Cokie would disappear and not say a word but that was not to be. Mary Anne turned to see Cokie smiling sweetly at Logan. Logan looked up at his girlfriends name and smiled but the smile faltered when he saw the expression on her face. He pulled out of Cokie's clutches and walked over to Mary Anne.

"Hey, sweetie. How was class?" His voice was friendly but Mary Anne could tell that he knew she hadn't had a great class. She just wanted this day to end already or she wanted him to hold her. He hadn't truly cuddled with her in a long time.

"It was ok. I got a B+ on my oral--" What was with people interrupting her today?

"Slut? Hey there." It was Cokie's voice again. Logan's face turned very dark when his girlfriends face turned bright red and tears that were constantly wanting to fall lately tumbled out of her eyes. "What's the matter, Mary Anne. Slut. That's what you are."

Mary Anne lost all control and burst into tears. A slap rang out and, through blurry eyes, Mary Anne saw Kristy smack Cokie in the face leaving a huge red hand mark. Mary Anne turned and ran. She wanted to, no, she needed to get out of this place. Would it never end? She found a deserted hallway and sank to the floor, attempting to take deep breaths, trying to calm down. She told herself, over and over again, that everything would be all right. She only had four more classes and she would be done for the summer. She couldn't do it. But she had too, her father would kill her if she left.

"Mary Anne?" Mary Anne jumped at Logan's voice. But she couldn't bring herself to look up. Why had he forgiven her two months ago? Suddenly she went to a similar scene, except this time his voice was kinder…

**Flashback:**

Mary Anne sat on the bench outside of the movie theatre while her friends sat watching the movie in the theatre. The day was cloudy matching her mood. A cloud of depression had encompassed her ever since her break up with Logan, after that horrible night…

"Mary Anne?" Logan's voice rang out as if in a dream. She could not have heard his voice, she just couldn't have. She looked up expecting to see some other boy that she knew. It was Logan: nobody else had those blue eyes or that gorgeous hair or that perfect body.

Blushing, Mary Anne mumbled, "Hi, Logan." She looked past him, thinking that she would see Cokie's sneering face. She wasn't there.

He sighed. "I need to talk to you." His voice was kind but it had an edge to it.

"O-ok," Mary Anne stumbled on her words, feeling frightened knowing that confrontation was about to occur. Logan held out his hand, she took it, and he pulled her up.

"Let's go to my car where we will have some privacy." Mary Anne nodded, as she tried to breath in and out to calm herself. Logan might be angry, she told herself, but he won't hurt you…He won't.

"Get in," He snapped when he pulled open the door for her. Trembling, she sat down and he slammed the door. Biting her lip, she waited for him to come into the car. A few minutes later, he sat down next to her. "Why did you do it?"

His voice was so cold that she shrank away but she knew she deserved her discomfort. She was relieved that he didn't yell and only waited calmly for her answer. He knew her better than almost anybody else so he knew it would take her a few minutes to gather her thoughts and speak, with stuttering.

She swallowed. "I-I--" Calm down, she thought to herself, just don't look at him, don't look at that furious look. Logan sighed, frustrated.

"You know what Mary Anne. I don't what you were thinking, perhaps you don't even know what you were thinking but did you, have sex with him?" His voice was very sharp and blunt. She flinched.

"No," she whispered.

"What? Speak up, Mary Anne!" Despite his angry tone, he hadn't raised his voice.

"No, I didn't sleep with him." Her voice was wobbly but louder and clearer this time.

"Look at me!" He grabbed her chin and pulled her chin towards her firmly but gently. She met his eyes for the first time in over a month--since that night. He looked deeply into her eyes. She almost flinched away at the intense rage she saw in his eyes but she told herself to stay put. She didn't know what was going on. She didn't know why he wanted to talk to her.

"Well, at least your not a complete slut." She bit her lip at the cruel words and felt tears sting her eyes as she looked back down at her lap. Silence fell over them. Mary Anne was losing her battle not to cry but she didn't want him to feel guilty. She deserved her misery. Despite that she wanted all the cruel words to go away, she wanted everything to go away. She wanted Logan to forgive her but she knew that wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Suddenly, Logan jerked her towards him again and slammed his lips down on hers. She felt real terror then. Was she wrong? Would he actually hurt her? Would he force her to-to…? But he jerked away before she could finish that thought.

"Well? Was that better than Pete?" Logan growled.

Mary Anne stared with watery eyes. He shook her, "WELL?"

She bit her lip, "Yes, you could never-never com-pare." Her voice cracked, she was losing control quickly.

"Humph." More silence rang out as tears slipped down her face onto her lap as she was telling herself desperately not to cry. It didn't work.

"Damn it!" He snapped, she cringed again, her tears coming faster. She was trying to stay silent. "Don't cry! Just don't!"

He looked at her, frustrated, but being that they were in the back seat, he reached over and pulled her towards him. He let her cry in his arms and that was when their relationship had started again…

**End Flashback**

"Mary Anne, it's okay," he said, softly pulling her towards him. This time, he rubbed circles on her back and just held her. She took a deep breath.

"I hate to see like this. Cokie is a horrible person and she always has been." He spoke kindly. "You are a better person than she will ever hope to be."

"No I'm-I'm not!" Mary Anne chocked on her sob.

"People make mistakes, but that does not mean that they aren't good, kind-hearted people. You have a better heart than anybody I know. I swear to you." He wiped her tears away when she looked at him with lost brown eyes. She took another deep breath.

"I don't know what to do anymore." She whispered. "We are doing all right, aren't we?"

"We are doing fine. Perfectly fine, I told you it would take a while to get back to normal but I don't want you to be hurting."

"I'm fine," she said but he shook his head.

"No, your not." He sighed, stood up and held out his hand. "Come on, are you ready to go to history."

She took his hand, taking comfort in the fact that they shared the next class with each other.

History ended up being very boring and nobody spoke as Mr. Kane droned on and on. Logan and his friends sat behind Mary Anne, whispering to each other and playing hang man. Mary Anne was turned around in her seat, resting her chin on her hands, watching them. Every once in a while, Logan would look up and smile. Occasionally, one of his friends would look at her and wink.

Then came her Spanish class. Mary Anne had this class with Claudia Kishi who kept complaining that she would have to retake the class in summer school. Claudia, luckily, never treated Mary Anne badly. Sometimes, over the past months, Claudia would catch her looking at her in a compassionate way. Spanish rushed by and at the end, Mary Anne received her final exam grade: another A. At least she had kept her grades up.

Lunch was uneventful besides Abby sticking a noodle up her nose or Kristy loudly making fun of Cokie. Logan sat at the table across the cafeteria, laughing with his friends. Mary Anne jerked her gaze from him and looked around at her friends.

Kristy was talking to Abby about some softball team. Stacey was laughing with her friends about the nerd that was in their math class. Mary Anne felt left out as usual. Would anything get back to normal again?

Mary Anne forced herself to participate in the conversation after that.

Both math and science flew by with no incidents. People had whispered behind her back but she got the feeling that somebody had told everyone to back off, because nobody had said anything to her face.

At the end of the day, Mary Anne started to clean out her locker thanking god that this horrible year was finally over. She sighed and smiled when she took down the picture of her, Kristy, Abby, and Stacey. Her eyes landed on the picture of Logan and herself, taken at the dance they had attended together two weeks ago. Logan was looking down at her with an affectionate smile on his face and she was smiling as well, surprisingly. That night had been good because people were having to much fun to pay any attention to her and Logan.

She packed her photos, notebooks, spare pencils and pens, some of her textbooks, and her PE clothes into her backpack. She pulled it over her shoulder and pulled out her last three textbooks she couldn't fit in her backpack. Damn, were they heavy. And then, two of them disappeared off the top of the pile. She jumped.

"Jumpy, aren't you?" Logan laughed, carrying two of the three of her textbooks. "Need a ride home?"

Mary Anne smiled a little, "Don't you have to take Kevin and Dylan home as well?"

"Yes, and the front seat is saved for my lovely girlfriend," he nudged her, a real smile broke out onto her face this time. He leaned in again and kissed her.

Notes: There, chapter two. Once again, I want to remind you that this is a romance but other things will be going on as well. The really good stuff won't occur for a couple more chapters. By the way, please try and read and review. I don't think that the next chapter will come up as quickly as this one did.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own any_thing Ann M. Martin wrote or her characters.

Chapter Three

"Logan? Looking forward to tomorrow?" Kevin shouted in the back seat of Logan's moving dark blue Honda.

"Hell, yes! No parents and --" Logan cut off glancing at Mary Anne, "Well, it will be a good time."

"Yes, it will. To bad you won't get to have some of the other fun," Dylan smirked at Logan, looking over at Mary Anne.

"Naw, none of that--"

"Cokie will be their at the party tomorrow night." Kevin spoke up, in a mocking tone.

"Please, that slut? She's all right for a lay but beyond that? Hell no," Logan laughed. Mary Anne glanced over at Logan, who was heading towards Kevin's house. Watching him, she wondered if he was tempted to have a one night stand with Cokie. Mary Anne knew that she wasn't putting out for him. Maybe he wanted someone to give him a good time.

She cringed at those thoughts. Shut up, Mary Anne, she thought to herself. She turned to the window and saw houses flash past the window, not recognizing the neighborhood they were in. It was probably close to Kevin's then. She had never been in this part of the town.

Mary Anne already felt better being away from the school. Nobody was bothering her in Logan's car. His friends ignored her for the most part aside from the slight digs at her. She felt a little sad, these guys had once been close to her before everything happened. Dylan was Logan's best friend so he wasn't to happy with Mary Anne.

Suddenly, Logan swept into a driveway in front of a large light grey house. It looked to be about three stories high. Apparently, Kevin's family was relatively wealthy. Stepping out of the car, "Thanks for the ride, Logan. See you later, Dylan. Bye, Mary Anne!" He waved and ran into the house.

"Hyper," Dylan mumbled, rolling his brown eyes. "You busy tonight, Logan?"

"Mary Anne and I are going to dinner and a movie but her curfew is at 11:30." Logan said, "Why, what do you have in mind?"

"Ah, well. We are going to hang at the club if you want to come over after hooking up with Mary Anne," Dylan hissed. Mary Anne's eyes widened at the hostile tone.

"We won't be 'hooking up' but I'll try and come over later," Logan's voice had an edge to it and he rested his hand over Mary Anne's.

"Well, I am only a block away. I can walk the rest of the way," Dylan smirked. "I wouldn't want to interrupt anything. See you later, Logan." He looked over at Mary Anne and nodded at her.

"Bye," she said, softly.

"Bye." and he slammed the door.

Logan looked over Mary Anne. "Don't worry about him. He's been having a lot of problems lately."

She nodded, she knew that his father had recently gone to prison for beating on his mother. She could not understand what could cause somebody to do such atrocious things to somebody they supposedly loved.

Mary Anne turned back to stare out the window when Logan started up the car again. She kept thinking about having to go back to her house where Sharon would be. At least she would be able to leave at 7 for her date with Logan. Shame it was Sharon's day off of work. Mary Anne glanced at her watch which read 4:04 PM.

Quick as lightning, or it seemed like it anyways, they were parked in front of her house. She hated that house these days especially since Dawn would be back tomorrow for the summer. Great, she thought sarcastically to herself.

"Hey, Mary Anne, I will see you tonight at seven, all right?" Logan said, sounding like he was in a hurry. He leaned over and kissed her. Mary Anne felt like he was keeping something from her though.

She looked at him, after he pulled away, with her big brown eyes, and he smiled. "I know you haven't had that great of a day, but at least we are out of school now."

"Yeah," she sighed. "Well, I should probably go and face the rabid stepmother."

She opened up her door to his laughter. She smiled, and then laughed as well. He stopped laughing and stared at her. "What, do I have some on my face?"

He smiled, "No, I had forgotten your laugh. It's good to hear." She blushed, leaned forward and gave him another peck and slammed the door. When she got to the front door, she waved.

The door swung open. An angry Sharon stood there. "Why are you so late?"

"Logan had to take some his friends home before me."

"If you end up pregnant don't blame me." Mary Anne's mouth fell open in outrage.

"Excuse me?"

"I know you are a little slut. Cheating on Logan and the Dawn debacle," growled Sharon.

"_What the hell did Dawn tell you? Because what happened was all __her_ fault, not mine!" yelled Mary Anne, surprised at herself. She was usually so soft spoken and hated conflict but she had had enough. All day people had been crawling up her ass but at least she had deserved their disdain. She did not, however, deserve Sharon's disdain.

"You nasty little liar. I know what actually happened, don't play the innocent act with me."

"I am not playing the innocent act--" Mary Anne was interrupted, for what felt like the tenth time today, by something. This time it was a knock on the door that interrupted her. Sharon followed after Mary Anne.

Mary Anne yanked open the door to see Logan holding up her jacket she must have left the car. "Thanks."

Logan looked from Mary Anne's angry and slightly hurt expression to Sharon's enraged expression. "Is there a problem?"

"Here's someone who knows Mary Anne's true colors--"

"What the hell do you mean, her true colors," snapped Logan.

"She cheated on you."

"I know," at Mary Anne's wince, Logan spoke again. "but you don't seem to understand what actually happened and why is it any of your business?"

"Dawn said that--"

"Dawn is a nasty liar!" shouted Logan, surprising Mary Anne. Silence rang out.

Mary Anne looked between Logan and Sharon. Logan took a deep breath, turned to Mary Anne and said, "I will see you at seven, I need to leave so I don't hurt your stepmother. Good luck with her." He placed the jacket over her shoulders, turned to the door and shut it behind him.

Mary Anne whirled around to face Sharon. "Why don't pick up this argument later, all right? I am going to get a snack and then I'll stay in my room."

Sharon glared but said, "Fine." She stalked off to the living room.

Mary Anne breathed out a sigh of relief, feeling the tension leaving her. She _hated _confrontation, _hated _it! She walked into the kitchen and looked around, got an apple, and a glass of water. Gulping down the water, she proceeded to go upstairs with her apple.

Mary Anne sat down on her bed when she got upstairs and reached for the telephone next to her bed. The year before, her father got her a telephone for her own bedroom although it was on the same telephone line as the rest of the house. Her father was still rather protective of his daughter…

She picked up the phone and called Kristy. One the third ring, Kristy's little sister, Karen, answered the phone. "Thomas residence. Who am I speaking to?"

"Hi, Karen. It's Mary Anne, is Kristy there?"

"No, she and Abby went for a jog. Completely crazy, they are. Do you want to leave a message," Karen answered.

"No, that's all right. I'll just call her tomorrow. Thanks." Mary Anne felt disappointed. She really wanted to speak to someone, because whenever she was alone the ever encompassing depression popped again. She often wondered if she would ever feel the same again.

Sighing, she glanced around the room looking for something to do. She turned on her small television set and started flipping through the channels. On one channel, the evening news was about to start, on another there was some sort of documentary being featured. Nothing interesting was on but she kept the television on, deciding to watch the evening news.

The news began with some sort of burglary, the spokespeople thought that it was some sort of gang activity. Mary Anne rolled her eyes. Gang activity in StoneyBrook? They said that there was some sort of symbol spray painted on the building. It was probably some juvenile delinquents getting some kicks, thought Mary Anne, they are probably watching this and laughing.

She wondered if people from her own school participated in these ridiculous acts. A few days ago, the news had uncovered another burglary that had occurred at the local grocery store. Mary Anne didn't think that they were connected though.

Meow. Tigger. Mary Anne was glad to see her cat, Tigger, who was several years old now but still going strong. Mary Anne absentmindedly scratched Tigger's fur while continuing to watch the five o'clock news.

An hour later, Mary Anne heard the door open downstairs. "Mary Anne, Sharon, I'm home," Mary Anne's father said. Mary Anne shrugged, knowing that her father would come up to see her soon enough. She really did not want to have another confrontation with her stepmother from hell.

Mary Anne remembered a time when she, her stepmother, her father, Dawn, and even Jeff were a happy family. That was long past, though. She wondered how everything had gotten so out of control. Mary Anne had done so much to screw up her own life but others were doing a fine job of making it a hundred times worse.

"Mary Anne, " Mr. Spier called as he walked up the stairs.

"Hi, dad," Mary Anne said, getting up and giving him a hug. Although still protective, her father was far more lenient than he had been in the past. As a result, she and her father were much closer.

"You look like you had a rough day," Mr. Spier spoke, sadly. "You really haven't had the greatest time lately, have you?"

Mary Anne shook her head, feeling even more depressed. "Sweetie, it will get better. Aren't you and Logan back on track?"

"Yeah, he has been really good to me lately, but I still feel bad about everything," Mary Anne quietly intoned.

"Look, Mary Anne, if he wants to look past what happened and forgive you, maybe you should start forgiving yourself," he looked concerned, "It is not healthy for you to face such severe depression all of the time."

Mary Anne took in a deep breath, and nodded. "I know, but it's hard."

"Of course its hard, but throughout our lifetimes we make a lot of mistakes and we must learn to overcome them." He patted her shoulder. "I heard your stepmother grumbling about you going on a date with Logan tonight, what are your plans?"

Mary Anne knew that her father always wanted to know where she was at all times. "Dinner and a movie, at seven."

Mr. Spier looked down at his watch. "Well, it's six-fifteen, so I will let you get ready. Make sure to be back by 11:30."

She nodded. "Yes, dad."

After he was gone, she sighed to herself, suddenly wondering what she should wear. Logan had said that it would be casual but they really hadn't had a real date in a long time so she was nervous.

She decided on a simple black skirt, and a sleeveless white v-neck. It was simple and fairly casual. She looked cute in it, though. She had a black sweater to wear over the top. For shoes, she slipped on black mid-height t-strapped sandals. She placed a white headband on her head after brushing her long brown locks, and slipped on a silver necklace. After fixing her mascara and putting a small amount of green eye shadow on to bring out her eyes, she nervously looked at her reflection. That would have to do, she wasn't allowed to wear any more make-up than she was wearing. She couldn't get her ears pierced until her sixteenth birthday so that was out of the question.

Putting on her silver watch, she glanced at the time and then stopped, shocked, it was already 6:52 PM. After a few more minutes of fussing with her hair, the doorbell rung and a few moments later…"Mary Anne! Logan's here!"

Grabbing her handbag, and tossing on her sweater, she walked downstairs to see Logan waiting for her. He smiled when he saw her.

"You look gorgeous." He said, simply. She blushed.

"Thanks, you look good as well," and he did. He was only wearing jeans and a nice black shirt but he looked attractive as hell.

"Be back by 11:30," called Mr. Spier, as the two of them walked outside.

"I will, Mr. Spier," shouted Logan, rolling his eyes at Mary Anne causing her to laugh.

**Notes: Next chapter: their date and a confrontation with a certain former best friend of Logan's. It should be interesting. Some of the things illustrated in this chapter will become very important later on, by the way. Anyways, please read and review!**


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I do know own these characters or anything recognizable to the works of Ann M. Martin_

Chapter Four

Outside of her house, Mary Anne allowed herself to breath again. She knew that this date would help her get over her depression. Logan hadn't taken her on a real date for such a long time. He had been so angry. At times, she still saw the flickers of anger on his face but it would smooth out when he thought she was looking. Despite his efforts to keep those feelings away from her, she knew.

He smiled down at her. "You ready?" She smiled, they had chosen a movie that would do for both of them. It wasn't a horror flick with a lot of gore and it wasn't a chick flick so they could both be happy. First, they were going to go to get some pizza.

"Yes," she said.

Logan looked at her, opened her door for her, and closed it. It certainly felt like a real date…

"What are you and the girls planning on doing tomorrow? Because I wouldn't mind if you guys popped by our party." Logan said, smirking. He really did want her to be with him to stave off Cokie. Crazy bitch that she was.

Mary Anne replied, "Yeah, Stacey really wants to go to the party."

"You should come," he said hopefully.

"How can I resist that look?" she laughed, and he smiled at her.

"I will see if the rest of them want to go," Mary Anne said. "I am just relieved that I will be at Kristy's instead of at home. Dawn's coming back into town tomorrow."

He groaned. "That really sucks. Jeff coming down too?"

She nodded. "Yeah, at least I'll have him. He cannot stand his sister."

"Devious, aren't you? Pit the siblings against each other," Logan laughingly said.

"Oh, you know it," she replied, feeling better than she had in a long time.

He looked at her in surprise. "You seem happier, it looks good on you."

She blushed. "My dad talked to me and he was worried so I decided to try and by happier from now on."

"Good," he answered, sweetly. She felt like a weight had lifted off of her. He seemed to really genuinely care about how she was feeling. The Pete Black situation had almost destroyed their relationship but she knew that it would get better. It was starting to get better.

"Mary Anne?" Logan asked, concerned. Realizing that the car had stopped in front of Pizza Express, she smiled reassuringly.

"I'm all right, just thinking," Mary Anne said, smiling. "Let's eat pizza!"

He laughed at her excitement. She really is pretty, he thought to himself. She had those gorgeous brown eyes that he could get himself lost in. He shook his head and opened the door for her. Laughing, the two of them wandered into the restaurant and stopped dead.

Pete Black and Cokie Mason were standing there. Good god, thought Mary Anne desperately, what the hell are they doing here?

"Maybe we should go somewhere else," Mary Anne told Logan, tugging on his arm.

"No," he said, abruptly. "We shouldn't have to leave."

Mary Anne groaned in her head. She knew that this could not turn out well. The two of them walked right past Pete and Cokie, who looked like they were having an argument.

"You like pepperoni pizza, don't you?" Logan said, shocking her. How had he remembered. She nodded. He turned to the cashier and said, "We'll have a pepperoni pizza and two medium coke's."

"Look, Pete!" shrieked Cokie. "There's Mary Anne and Logan. Who would have thought? How does it feel? Ooh, I love drama!"

"Shut up, Cokie," hissed Pete, who finally noticed his former best friend and his former love interest. Pete looked the same as ever and he had gone through a rough time at school as well, surprisingly. Mary Anne had heard that things were very rough at home too.

"Excuse me," Logan said, trying to slip past Cokie while holding hands with Mary Anne and trying to hold his drink. Mary Anne was holding her own drink.

"Hi, Logan," said Cokie in a sexy voice, leaning into Logan. "How is your evening going with that?" She said that will an edge to her voice while pointing at Mary Anne.

"Better before I noticed you," grumbled Logan, still avoiding Pete at all costs. Mary Anne was standing awkwardly to the side, wondering if she would have to stop a fight.

"Hey, Logan and Mary Anne," Pete finally spoke to the two of them. Logan grunted and Mary Anne, ever the polite one said, "Hi."

Cokie was smirking, looking from one face to the other. She liked awkwardness especially when it came to blows…

**Flashback **

Mary Anne and Pete pulled away from each other. Mary Anne suddenly felt incredibly guilty about what they had just done. They hadn't gone past kissing but she forced herself to turn back to Pete.

"We can't do this, Logan, your best friend, is my boyfriend," she said, softly.

Pete wasn't looking at her, his eyes were on the doorway. Cokie Mason was standing there, smirking, with Logan standing next to her.

Logan's eyes were enraged, but he wasn't looking at Mary Anne, rather he was looking at Pete.

"Look, Logan, she seduced me, I didn't--" Mary Anne made an angry noise at that and Logan's fist smashed into Pete's face. Cokie was laughing in the background.

"Miss perfect just showed her true colors," the stupid girl said, smirking even wider at Mary Anne's red face.

"Apparently," snarled Logan, sending an icy glare at Mary Anne's. "We are done, Mary Anne!"

She sniffled but didn't say a word. It was all her fault, all her fault. She didn't even try and stand up for herself, she knew that she had done wrong. Pete was looking at Logan with an almost frightened look on his face.

"And you, Pete, are no longer a friend of mine. Stay the hell away from me, both of you!" hissed Logan, eyes flashing as Mary Anne sobbed…

**End Flashback**

Unfortunately, this fight didn't quite make it to blows.

"Look, Logan, I'm sorry," Pete said, softly. "I just want you to know that."

"Hmmhm, and when you were telling me that Mary Anne seduced you…?" Logan said, coldly. Mary Anne flinched next to him, he had let go of her hand and an invisible guard had shut up. She recognized it as him trying to separate himself from her, so he wouldn't get hurt again. He had been doing that for months.

"I lied, I just didn't want to lose my best friend," Pete said, quietly, glancing at Mary Anne. She didn't say anything, she recognized that this was between him and Logan at this point.

"Well, congratulations, we aren't even friends now," snapped Logan, but his eyes were softer. He knew what Pete was going through right now, at school, at home (especially at home…) but he could not forgive him. He hadn't even completely forgiven Mary Anne yet.

Pete nodded, somewhat defeated. Cokie was stilling standing there with a wide smile on her face.

"What the hell are you smiling at?" Logan shot at Cokie.

"It is so great for Pete to have a piece of his own medicine," Cokie said, simpering.

Mary Anne made a sound of disgust and Pete rolled his eyes. Logan scowled at Cokie, not knowing whether to agree with her or not. He decided that hated her for more than he disliked Pete.

"It is none of your business--"

"I can help you get the ultimate revenge against them both." Cokie said, casting a smirk at both Pete and Mary Anne. Mary Anne turned white with shock, knowing exactly what she was implying. It was more a revenge against Mary Anne then Pete, thought. What had she ever done to Cokie?

"I don't think so if it's what I think your implying," Logan hissed, angrily. "I would never lower myself to cheap revenge or to cheating on my girlfriend so completely."

"Mary Anne cheated on you, probably even slept with--"

Pete spoke. "She did not sleep with me!"

For the first time since the confrontation started Logan glanced down at Mary Anne. He took back her hand , but a wall still seemed to be between them. "She did not sleep with Pete, she is not a slut, unlike you."

Cokie gaped at him. "What?! She's the one who-who hurt you and-and--"

"She did hurt me but I love her," Logan said, simply. Mary Anne looked up at him, startled, but he didn't even glance at her this time. She knew he was still unwilling to admit it to her face and she couldn't really blame him.

Pete was now looking back and forth between them all, not saying anything. "I think that you should leave, Cokie," he said.

She glared at him, in outrage. "You have no right to tell me what to do, son of a whore and abuser! Did your abusive father batter your brains?"

Mary Anne's mouth fell open in shock and Logan stopped dead next to her for the second time that night. Pete looked at her, turned around, and stormed out of the pizza restaurant.

"So, Logan, why don't we ditch the whore and have some fun together," Cokie simpered again. Mary Anne glared at her.

"I don't think so, get the hell out!" Logan said, angrily, wondering where his former best friend had disappeared off too. He was still angry at him, but was horrified at Cokie's disgusting comments. He wondered if she had been making comments like that since that night happened. He glanced over at Mary Anne's shocked expression.

Finally, Mary Anne blurted out, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" shocking both Logan and Cokie.

Cokie finally stormed out of the joint and slammed the door. Silence rang out between Logan and Mary Anne.

"Um," a waitress said, from behind them. She had curly brown hair and blue eyes. "You're pizza is ready."

Logan jerked out of his state and replied. "Thank you." He took the pizza from the woman and paid up front for it. He turned to Mary Anne, hesitated and then spoke: "We should try and find a seat."

Mary Anne nodded, feeling like their night was turning out to be a disaster. She knew that Logan was thinking about everything and she wanted to cry. They were finally making some progress and, bam, conflict in the form of Cokie and Pete.

He forced a smile on his face when they sat next to each other in the booth. "You don't need to look so nervous, Mary Anne. We are fine."

His reassuring voice forced her tense shoulders to relax but she knew that they were not 'fine' yet but hopefully they would be someday.

"Come on, Mary Anne. Smile for me," Logan spoke, softly, his eyes were concerned. He didn't want her to fall back into one of her self-deprecating moods. A half smile appeared on her face when she looked up at Logan. He leaned forward and kissed her, softly, forcing her to relax even more.

"Now, let's eat!" Logan said, excitedly, when they broke away.

They didn't see Cokie watching from outside with a malicious expression on her face. But then, they were a little busy. And Cokie didn't see Pete watching her with anger, cold rage. Logan looked up and met his ex-best friends eyes, however, and nodded at him, seeing the look on his face. Pete nodded back, knowing that they were certainly not friends again but they had come to a silent agreement to become civil once again. He hoped that with time, he and Logan could be friends again. He also hoped that he could do something about Cokie. The bitch had made his life a living hell for months and he knew that she always made Mary Anne's life hell. In fact, she pretty much screwed with everyone, she needed to be brought down a level.

Logan turned back to his girlfriend and dived into the pizza that was sitting in front of him. Mary Anne laughed and dove into it as well. Boy do I love pizza, Mary Anne thought while looking at her boyfriend.

**Notes: Some more flashbacks next chapter. Dawn comes home, and the party from hell is coming up as well. And then some time will pass, I think. I haven't started the next chapter so I am going by my plan for now. Anyways, please read and review!**__


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of Ann M. Martin's characters or anything else relating to her books._

_Chapter Five_

_A few hours after their controversial dinner, Mary Anne and Logan walked out of the movie theatre. The film had been good, but they hadn't really watched much of it as they were to busy, well, comforting each other. She smiled up at him, but she was wondering what he was thinking. _

"_We better get you home," he said to her. "It's after 11 already."_

_Mary Anne looked down at her watch, shocked. It said 11:15 PM. Her dad would kill her if she was late. He was very strict about that sort of thing. A month ago, she had been grounded a day for every minute she was late: it was five days. _

"_Let's go!" She said, anxiously. He laughed but didn't say anything. They got into the car._

_She noticed that he was very quiet. She grew concerned; "What's the matter?"_

_He glanced over as he drove. "Nothing, I just am worried about Pete."_

_She nodded, she was as well but she didn't want Logan to think that she was concerned for Pete for something other than friendship. "Yeah, Cokie really was being a bitch."_

_He looked at her, in mock shock. "Why Mary Anne, I've never heard such language from you. You should be ashamed."_

_She blushed and mumbled: "Very funny."_

_Soon enough, they were in front of Mary Anne's house. It was two minutes until 11:30. "You better go," Logan grumbled, after pulling away from her. _

"_I guess," she softly said, slipping out of the car. "I will try and see you tomorrow."_

"_Yeah," he said, distractedly but he smiled at her. She smiled back and wandered back into her home. When she slipped through the front door, her father was waiting for her with Sharon next to him. Mary Anne wondered whether she was late…_

"_Mary Anne, what time is it?" Mr. Spier spoke, softly not sounding angry but Sharon was smirking next to Mary Anne._

_Mary Anne looked down at her watch: It read 11:36 PM. Oops, she thought to herself. She looked up at her dad and answered. "11:36." She felt that she should get props for telling the truth._

_Mr. Spier looked at his daughter for a second and, after a few minutes of silence, Sharon spoke up, in a cold voice. "She should be grounded."_

_Mary Anne opened her mouth to say something. She hoped that for once her father would be lenient. Tomorrow night was the last night that Kristy would be in town before leaving on Sunday. She was supposed to go to that sleepover. She really needed a break from everything else in her life._

"_I don't know, Sharon," Mr. Spier said, surprising Mary Anne. "She needs to get out of her depression she has been in. She and her friends are having a sleepover tomorrow night."_

_So, he had remembered. But then, he had been very concerned about her in the past months. _

"_She must do the time!" Sharon said, sharply._

_Shut up, Mary Anne thought to herself, desperately. She was desperate enough to sneak out if she had too…_

"_Tell you what, starting on Sunday afternoon, she will have two days of grounding," Mr. Spier decided, making Sharon turn red with rage and storm off. Mary Anne sighed in relief, she could handle that. She would be away from home for her job at least. She really couldn't wait for her first day at the bookstore. She wouldn't be doing much at first except stocking supplies, but eventually she would work at cashiering. _

"_I'm sorry, dad." Mary Anne spoke softly, she hated when he was disappointed in her. She didn't really care about Sharon though. Maybe she could work overtime to stay away from Dawn and Sharon… _

"_Yes, well, Mary Anne I am glad that you are getting out though and remember that Sharon is going to pick Dawn up tomorrow morning at 10 am." Mr. Spier said, he reached out and hugged her. "Everything will be ok and have sweet dreams!"_

_She smiled. "Thanks, dad! Love you."_

"_Love you."_

_When she got back to her bedroom, she sank onto her bed, thinking about anything and everything. Logan had been sweet that day but his moods changed from day to day lately. She never knew when he was going to be a complete jerk or when he was going to be incredibly sweet. She sighed, she knew that he cared about her. He would not have stuck around if he didn't but she wished that some things hadn't happened. _

_Dawn was another person on her mind. She was not looking forward to her homecoming. She supposed that it would be good to see Jeff again, who was nearing his thirteenth birthday. Dawn and Mary Anne had gone their separate ways two years ago. Last summer had been awkward at best because they rarely talked to each other. Dawn had gone out of her way to constantly try and get Mary Anne in trouble though. _

_At least Kristy had been there last summer. She would be gone for two whole months this summer. Mary Anne knew that she was going to visit her in the middle of July but it would be hard. Sure, Mary Anne had Abby and Stacey as well as Logan but they weren't Kristy…_

_The next morning Mary Anne woke up, fully clothed in the outfit she had worn the night before. She had fallen asleep while thinking. Groaning, she glanced at the clock once more. It read 9:05 am. That was a little later than she normally slept. Mary Anne was an early riser. Sharon must have already left to pick up Dawn as the airport was nearly an hours drive. Mr. Spier had probably left for work. Yes, he sometimes worked on Saturdays. _

_Mary Anne grumbled to herself when she took a look at herself. She looked like a mess. A half an hour later, she had taken a shower, brushed her hair, gotten dressed, and had made a breakfast of pancakes. She was sitting at the kitchen table eating her pancakes and wondering what she should do until 3 that afternoon when she would go to Kristy's. She didn't want to hang around the house with Dawn. It was now 10:10 am so Mary Anne decided to leave the house, after feeding Tigger and cuddling with him. _

_She wandered around StoneyBrook by herself. When the time hit 12:15, she wandered into a café, thinking to pick up something to eat. She stopped dead when she saw Pete Black. She was wondering whether she should turn around and leave. No, don't, Mary Anne, she thought. I shouldn't have to leave and neither should he. She calmed down and walked towards him, meaning to say 'Hi.'_

_She noticed that Logan was sitting across from him. Hmm, she thought, ok. She wondered if she should let them talk about whatever they were talking about and not say anything but Logan looked up._

"_Hi, Mary Anne. What are you doing? And, are you by yourself?" Logan said, while looking around her._

"_Yeah, Dawn is home now so I am trying to waste time until I go to Kristy's," Mary Anne said, quietly._

_Logan shook his head. "It's your house, why should you feel like you should leave?"_

_She shrugged. She looked over at Pete and said, "Hi, Pete."_

_He smiled and said 'Hi' back. _

"_Well, I am going to get something to eat." She said, interrupting the awkward moment. "And you can get back to whatever your doing."_

_Logan stood up and put his arms around her and kissed her. She blushed when they pulled away. Logan really was an incredible kisser. Pete didn't really compare when they made their mistake. She was glad to see the two former best friends talking to each other without coming to blows. "Bye."_

_Logan smiled. "See you tonight if you can come."_

_She nodded. _

_She went up to the counter and ordered a salad and a big chocolate chip cookie. Well, at least its partially healthy, she laughed to herself. She loved her sweets. She hung around the café and ate. After she was done eating, she pulled out her book and read. Soon enough, it was nearing two o'clock in the afternoon. Mary Anne didn't know where to go next but she sure as hell wasn't going home yet._

_Wandering around town, she went to the bookstore she would be working at. It was only open a few hours in the morning on Saturdays so it was closed for the day. She felt excitement well up within her again while looking at the place. She hadn't had a real job in quite a while. They even said that she could work during the school year if she wanted to, for evening shifts or Saturday and Sunday mornings. _

_Not knowing what else to do she stopped by the place that Stacey worked. Stacey worked at a clothing store on most days. During the summer she would be working at least five days a week. Stacey and her mom were still close but she and her father had definitely drifted as Stacey really had no interest in being in New York City as much. Some weekends, Stacey went to New York, often bringing a friend or two with her. Stacey had recently gotten her drivers license so it would be easier. _

_Mary Anne went into the store and looked around. Stacey was talking to some woman about an outfit that the woman wanted to buy. _

_Stacey looked up and, after finishing with the woman, said, excitedly. "Mary Anne!"_

_Mary Anne wandered over, feeling a little uncomfortable. She and Stacey rarely were alone with each other. They were definitely friends but they were very different people. _

"_Trying to avoid home?" Stacey said, sympathetically. She knew all about the Dawn and Sharon situation. _

"_Yes!" Mary Anne said, energetically. "I'm trying to stay away as long as possible."_

_Stacey laughed. "Well, your welcome to hang around here and try things on. There are so many cute outfits that would look great on you."_

_Mary Anne blushed again and decided to look around. Forty five minutes later, she had tried on three skirts, a summer dress, a pair of shorts. She had decided to buy the summer dress and a pair of sandals with it. It cost about 35 all together which wasn't bad. She said good bye to Stacey and left. _

_She braced herself as she walked home. At least she would only be there a few minutes until Kristy's older brother, Sam, and Kristy were going to pick her up. Walking into her house felt like death to Mary Anne. Her dad wasn't around so she would be stuck with __them_.

"Where were you?" shouted Sharon, as Mary Anne walked through the door.

"Out, I left you a note," Mary Anne said, exasperated.

"A note?! What if I had wanted you to do something for me? The laundry needed done," the woman shrieked, looking very unattractive for such an attractive woman.

Mary Anne shrugged. "Your laundry needed done. I already did mine the day before yesterday."

Sharon growled, shocking Mary Anne. "You should have done mine as well."

Mary Anne rolled her eyes. She thought that this woman was ridiculous. Why should she have to do Sharon's laundry? Looking past the angry Sharon, Mary Anne saw Dawn who looked different somehow.

Dawn looked as if she had a rough patch. Her long blond hair hung limp around her face and her eyes were dull. Mary Anne wondered what was wrong with her. She didn't want to care but she did. Dawn and Mary Anne met eyes. Sharon stormed off for the third time in two days, leaving behind an exasperated Mary Anne.

"Hi, Dawn," Mary Anne quietly spoke.

Dawn nodded, turned and ran up the stairs. Mary Anne watched her go, startled. She couldn't think about Dawn's behavior though. She had to quickly pack her belongings for her night at Kristy's.

When the bell rang ten minutes later, Mary Anne had packed clothes to wear, pajamas, a book, some snacks, her toothbrush and toothpaste as well as her hairbrush. Underwear and her swim suit came next. They might go into the hot tub that Kristy's family now had.

Mary Anne ran down the stairs with her bag, opened the door and said to Dawn, who was standing behind her. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Dawn whispered, sounding very down, causing Mary Anne to feel even more concerned. Great, another problem, Mary Anne thought sarcastically.

**Notes: Well, here's chapter five. I'm sorry that it took so long to get up but I think that updating once a week is far easier than more often so I have decided to update once a week unless I feel really inspired. Um, let's see. Next chapter we will have the party and more about Dawn. Soon: the first day on the job and Mary Anne's runs into a mystery… Remember to read and review! Let me know what you think.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable to Ann M Martin's books.**_

Chapter Six

Mary Anne felt extremely exposed. She was wearing a rather revealing dress that Stacey had convinced her to wear at the party. She said that Logan would go wild at her look. Mary Anne could only feel a little embarrassed. The outfit was not really her style. She was donning a black dress that revealed more of her breasts than she felt comfortable with. She was wearing one of Stacey's silver necklaces that seemed to bring out the green that Mary Anne had in her brown eyes. She had incredibly uncomfortable silver high heals on as well. She wanted to scream but she was much to shy to lodge a complaint. She relented to the outfit, but not until after she insisted on wearing a jean jacket over it.

It had been surprisingly easy to convince Kristy, Abby, and Stacey to go to the party. Stacey had gone into hyper mode once she heard. She knew that her boyfriend would be there, meaning that she could get some action and she loved social gatherings. Abby had smiled because she didn't really mind social gatherings. Kristy just shrugged nonchalantly. She could care less either way.

"Do I really look all right?" Mary Anne hissed at Kristy, who was donned in jeans and a slightly revealing v-neck that was dark green. Kristy looked a little more dressy than usual but wasn't wearing a revealing black dress that barely came down past her knees, like Mary Anne was.

Kristy rolled her eyes "You look fine!"

Mary Anne still felt awkward but snapped her mouth shut. Kristy was becoming irritated and an irritated Kristy could be very hard to deal with. Kristy had realized that her ex-boyfriend, Gabe, was going to be at the party, making her fly into a panic.

The party was already mayhem and it was only a little after eight. People were making out left and right. Others were stumbling around with beers in their hands. Stacey immediately left Mary Anne, Kristy, and Abby to 'hook up' with her boyfriend. She claimed that she was horny causing Mary Anne to blush horrendously and Abby's laughter.

Abby looked over at Mary Anne and Kristy. "Well, let's go mingle!" And then she ran off to get some beer leaving Mary Anne and Kristy behind, with mouths hanging open.

"I guess we are on our own," Kristy grumbled. Mary Anne didn't drink at parties and Kristy drank very little so they felt a little out of place already.

"Mary Anne?" Dylan's voice rang out, he was smirking. "I wouldn't think that this was really your type of fun, but I guess people surprise sometimes."

He was digging at her again. Mary Anne knew that he was poking at her about the whole Logan ordeal. She was sick and tired of everybody constantly getting on her case about it. It was really none of their business. It was Logan and Mary Anne's business. Mary Anne took a deep breath and thought reasonable that he was close to Logan so cared about him. She was glad that Logan had such good friends.

"Hi, Dylan," Mary Anne decided to ignore the dig, and smiled at him. "How are you doing?"

He looked at her, a little startled. "I guess I am doing all right. I'm glad that school is finally out."

Mary Anne felt relief that he was willing to be civil. He had a beer in his hand but he wasn't all that intoxicated.

"So," he began again. "Do you want something to drink?"

"I don't drink alcohol but do have any soda?" Mary Anne asked nervously, realizing that this was Dylan's house.

Surprisingly, he smiled. "I guess not everything changes. You still don't drink, glad to hear it. We have Pepsi and Coke in the refrigerator. You are welcome to have some."

And then he turned and started to walk away. He turned around and said, "Logan's in the living room by the way."

She sighed and went to the kitchen to find some Pepsi, while thinking about her conversation with Dylan. He had certainly been more civil than Mary Anne had been expecting. Mary Anne pulled out a Pepsi while Kristy got a Coke.

"Well, that was awkward," Kristy said. "You could have cut the tension with a knife."

""He hates me," Mary Anne said, miserably.

Kristy rolled her eyes. "No, he doesn't. I think that he is just disappointed in you."

"You were too," Mary Anne said, remembering how angry Kristy had been when she had found out about the Mary Anne and Pete debacle. She had been furious. Despite that, Kristy had stood by Mary Anne from the very beginning.

"People make mistakes," Kristy shrugged. "You made a big one, but I just think people took it so badly because nobody expected it from you. Some people, like Cokie, have down so much worse, and don't have any fall out at all. It sucks."

"Yeah, I am just glad that Logan and I are starting to get on track again," Mary Anne spoke softly. Kristy smiled.

"The two of you will be fine," she said.

Unfortunately a screechy voice interrupted their conversation. Cokie Mason had arrived. "Hahaha, it is the dream team."

She was looking directly at Mary Anne and Kristy. Kristy rolled her eyes again. "Is that supposed to be an insult? At least we have each other. What do have? Them?"

Kristy nastily glared at Cokie's disgusting friends, who were constantly mimicking Cokie. They all lacked intelligence and were smacking gum in their mouths, rather loudly. Every once in a while they would blow a bubble with vacant expressions on their faces. Kristy could not stand unintelligent people.

Cokie hissed like a snake. Mary Anne was expecting a forked tongue to come out of her mouth. "How dare you, you stupid bitch!"

"What the hell did you just call me?" Kristy got into Cokie's face. Unlike Mary Anne, Kristy had no problem with confrontation. In fact, sometimes Mary Anne thought that she started conflicts for fun. Mary Anne knew that this fight would soon get out of control.

"Come on, Kristy. Leave it alone," Mary Anne whispered to her friend, receiving a glare for her trouble.

But it was Cokie that spoke. "Who said that you could talk, slut?!"

Mary Anne felt her own temper flare up. She really was sick of this bitch causing so many problems for her. But, Mary Anne held herself in check. Somebody had to stay in check. Unfortunately, Kristy didn't have the aspirations that Mary Anne had.

Kristy reached out and punched Cokie in the face. "I am sick and tired of your shit!"

Mary Anne felt a presence pop up next to her. She looked up to see Logan. She wanted to hug him, but didn't think that was appropriate at that time. He rested his arm around her, and murmured: "Glad that you came."

She smiled widely and Logan smirked happily. Although both of their smiles disappeared when Kristy threw Cokie up against the refrigerator after Cokie made some snide comment/

"You're a psycho!" yelled Cokie. "Somebody call the police. Have her arrested for assault!"

Logan stepped forward this time. "I don't think that we need to do that."

"Yes, we do," Cokie shrieked, while stomping her foot. But the doorbell rang before she could act on her threat.

Suddenly yells rang out. "Hide the beer. The cops are here!"

Mary Anne rolled her eyes. Did they think that the police officers couldn't hear them? They were practically screaming at the top of their lungs. People were running around, but Mary Anne knew that she wouldn't be able to get out. At least, she and Kristy didn't drink anything alcoholic. Mary Anne wondered if Logan had.

Logan winked at Mary Anne. "Damn am I glad that I didn't drink anything." Mary Anne felt relief.

"You four! Get over here!" an angry police officer said to Logan, Mary Anne, Kristy, and Cokie. For the first time, Mary Anne realized that Cokie's 'friends' had left. Maybe they were smarter than she had thought.

Mary Anne began to panic when she thought the outraged police officer. What if he was going to arrest them? She calmed down a little when Logan put an a comforting arm around her. She breathed out, telling herself that she hadn't done anything wrong so why would she get in trouble?

She watched as two police officers went down the line of partiers that they had caught. Some were being hauled off and others were told to get a ride to the police station after they failed the alcohol test.

"Logan?" a younger police officer said to Logan when he got to him.

"Hey, Rick. I swear I wasn't drinking." Logan spoke softly.

"There's no alcohol on your breath," the guy shrugged and went on to Mary Anne. Mary Anne wondered how Logan knew the man.

The man was now standing in front of Mary Anne. "No alcohol on your breath either. All right, breath into this," the guy held out some type of alcohol level reader. Why hadn't he done that to Logan?

Mary Anne felt a gentle nudge from Logan, so she took the reader and breathed into it. It read 0.0. The guy smiled. "Sorry about that. I had to make sure though."

Mary Anne smiled and said, "Of course, sir."

Mary Anne turned to Logan after Kristy had been cleared. Cokie had been taken away. Apparently she was over the legal limit. "Can you give Kristy and me a ride back to her house?" Mary Anne assumed that Abby and Stacey had found a ride back as they weren't there anymore.

He shrugged. "Yeah, no problem."

"How do you know that police officer?" Mary Anne asked Logan.

He looked at her for a second, as if he wanted to tell her something but all he said was, "A family friend."

Mary Anne felt a little hurt that he hadn't told her about the guy but tried to shrug it off. He didn't want to tell her and he certainly didn't have too. Besides, maybe the guy was really just a family friend. He had seemed a little creepy to Mary Anne though. He had spotted the guy looking at some of the girls a little bit inappropriately.

Kristy wandered over to them. "We getting a ride?" she asked Logan, not so subtly.

"No, I am going to force you two to walk, in the dark, for five miles, by yourselves," Logan said, sarcastically. Kristy rolled her eyes again. What was up with her rolling her eyes that night? Mary Anne thought.

Kristy and Logan liked each other but they liked to poke fun at each other. Mary Anne smiled at their banter.

"I want to sit in the front," whined Kristy, not all that seriously.

"I like Mary Anne better than you though. I want her next to me," Logan jokingly, whined, holding the front door of his car open for Mary Anne. "Although, she does force me to chauffeur her around."

He pretended to think about it as he winked at Mary Anne and Kristy. Mary Anne laughed. "I am so glad that you like me, then."

"Oh I certainly like you," Logan said, mischievously. "Especially when you wear sexy outfits like that." He looked her up and down. "Although, it is not really you."

Mary Anne blushed. So he had noticed. "Stacey made me wear it."

He laughed. "Hmm, that dress makes me want to do things that you would not be entirely comfortable with."

Kristy interrupted them, "Ew, please change this topic."

Laughter broke out between Logan and Mary Anne. Mary Anne felt so relieved to laugh again. Logan looked happy too. Kristy was watching them, with a smile on her face.

"But I want to continue this lovely conversation," Logan said, sounding like a child.

"Oh, be quite Logan. You are not getting into my pants anytime soon," Mary Anne growled playfully.

"Damn," Logan sounded disappointed, but he said it jokingly. He changed the subject to something that caused Mary Anne's expressive eyes to widen. Logan secretly thought that Mary Anne looked so adorable.

"Wanna get ice cream before I take you guys to Kristy's?" asked Logan. "I'll pay."

"You think that I can turn that down?" Mary Anne asked, shocked, causing even more laughter. Mary Anne's love for sweets was legendary. Logan was still watching her, thinking but didn't say anything other than to smile at her. They had ice cream at the local ice cream shop and they left to go back to Kristy's house. A lot of laughter had rang out among them during that time. However, little did the three of them know that laughter would not come often that summer.

**Notes: Well, here is chapter six. What was with the police officer? Is there more to him? Next chapter: the rest of the girls night with a little Logan mixed in. Dawn's problem makes an appearance. Later: Pete makes another appearance but it isn't good… Anyways, please read and review and I will try and get the next chapter up soon but I am going camping this weekend so I don't know how long it will take.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizable to Ann M. Martin's writing.**

Chapter Seven

Mary Anne and Kristy wandered into Kristy's house to find both Stacey and Abby already there. Stacey was flirting with Kristy's older brother, Charlie, but it seemed to be in all good fun. He flirted outrageously back, after all. Stacey had a strange relationship with Kristy's older brothers. Mary Anne felt herself roll her eyes.

"Ew, gross!" Kristy said in a disgusted voice, glaring at her brother and Stacey.

Charlie smirked deviously, and wrapped his arm around Stacey's waist. Charlie was the more serious brother but he liked to have his fun. Stacey was way to young for him but that didn't mean that he couldn't have some fun. He would anything to irritate Kristy.

Stacey was grinning, knowing exactly what Charlie was doing. Charlie was home from college that summer and he had nothing better to do than irritate anybody that he could.

"Come on!" growled Kristy at Stacey and the other girls. "Let's order some pizza."

Stacey and Mary Anne exchanged looks. "It's almost midnight."

Kristy glared at them. "Pete will get us the pizza."

This caused Mary Anne to tense. She had forgotten that Pete Black worked at the Pizza Express sometimes. Mary Anne figured that Kristy didn't realize how awkward that would be for her, because Kristy was not the most sensitive girl. She and Mary Anne were very different in that Mary Anne was very sensitive.

She blinked away her feelings as they went upstairs to Kristy's room that was adorned with a television set and a stereo. She had gotten both last summer.

"I cannot believe that we will be upperclassmen next year," Abby said, excitedly.

"I know. We can be at the top of the food chain, and torment those freshmen," Kristy said, evilly.

Mary Anne rolled her eyes. She was planning on helping with orientation before school started. She wanted the younger students to feel welcome.

Stacey laughed. They all knew that Stacey wouldn't take any notice to the freshmen either way. It was interesting, however, that both Mallory and Jesse would be freshmen next year. Mary Anne wondered, briefly, how they were doing.

"So, did you and your boyfriend manage to get into anything tonight?" Abby asked Stacey, with a sly expression on her face.

Stacey pouted. "We only got into a heavy make out session before the cops reigned on our parade. But we plan to--"

Mary Anne tuned her out then. She really did not want to know about Stacey's sex life. Stacey wasn't a slut, despite what she sounded like. She and her boyfriend had sex, but she had never been with any other guy.

Mary Anne wondered what it would be like when she and Logan finally consummated their relationship, sometime in the far future. She couldn't help feeling bad about holding back but she wasn't ready for that. She could barely bare talking about that word--sex.

The rest of the night passed with fun and games and a lot of disgusting girl talk. Abby spent the entire night trying to make all of the girls to blush. She had succeeded numerous times with Mary Anne but Stacey seemed to be embarrassment proof. Kristy blushed once to her chagrin.

Sooner than Mary Anne's liking, the next morning arrived. It was time to take Kristy to the train station so that she could leave to Albany.

"I'll miss you," Mary Anne said, in her normal emotional manner, hugging Kristy.

Kristy patted her on the back. She didn't really like the touchy feely stuff but finally said that she would miss Mary Anne too…and she would.

When Mary Anne arrived back at her dad's place it was almost one in the afternoon. She could hear crashing and shouting in the house. She rolled her eyes. Great, a family crisis.

"Sweetie, calm down," Mr. Spier could be hear saying, in a soothing voice.

"My daughter is a slut, just like your daughter is," Sharon yelled.

"Now, wait a minute. Neither one of them are sluts--" Mr. Spier's usually calm voice was angry now.

Stacey and Abby had gotten out of the car when they heard the yelling. They exchanged glances.

"What the hell?" Abby finally said, turning to Mary Anne. "What's going on?"

Mary Anne shrugged, a little frightened of going inside.

Stacey looked worried, but turned to Mary Anne too. "I'm sorry, I have to go, but if you need anything--"

Stacey's voice trailed off as Mary Anne nodded and mumbled. "Yeah, I know. Thanks."

Stacey really was a good friend if she trusted you. She was loyal to a fault to her friends, but had plenty of enemies. Nobody wanted to be her enemy. Abby looked at Mary Anne helplessly. She turned and followed Stacey and they drove off after some hesitation.

Mary Anne stood up straighter and walked up the path to her front door. She opened the door to see two very angry adults, a crying girl, and Jeff. Jeff looked incredibly awkward and his head shot over to Mary Anne when she came in.

When had life become so complicated? Mary Anne really didn't know. Her home life used to be almost perfect. It was a dream come true when Mary Anne and her best friend, Dawn, matched their parents up. They had been so excited to become stepsisters. What had gone wrong?

Dawn looked miserably between her stepfather and mom.

"What is going on?" Mary Anne asked Jeff, who had walked towards Mary Anne.

"Apparently my sister got into a little trouble, but they won't tell me what," scoffed Jeff, rolling his eyes. "Apparently I'm too young or they just like to ignore me."

"They seem to be a little preoccupied right now," Mary Anne said. "I doubt has anything to do with you personally."

Mr. Spier shifted his gaze to his daughter and his strained expression turned to a smile. "Hi, sweetie. Did you have a good time at Kristy's?"

Dawn scoffed, regaining some of her composure. Mary Anne narrowed her eyes. Did she know about the party?

"It was fun," Mary Anne said, thinking back to the night before. The only downside was when Pete Black showed up with the pizza. Kristy had taken the pizza, without paying him, and slammed the door in his face. That had been embarrassing and Mary Anne felt bad because they had, in a sense, stolen from somebody. "What is going on here?"

Dawn's gaze shifted to the floor when Mary Anne asked that question. She didn't look so obnoxious now.

Sharon scowled at Mary Anne. "It's your fault for being such a slut!"

Mary Anne stared, in disbelief, at her stepmother. When had she become such a spiteful bitch? "I am not a slut! I have never even been with a guy like that!"

Silence rang out at that. Now, Mary Anne felt her face turn bright red. Why had she said that? It was true, but it wasn't something Mary Anne felt all that comfortable talking about.

Sharon laughed at Mary Anne. "You are a nasty little liar, you know that?"

Mary Anne felt tears well up in her eyes. She hated Sharon, hated her.

"No, I am not a liar. I have never had sex, not that its any of your business!" Mary Anne yelled, she could feel months of frustration coming out. How dare that bitch talk to her that way? She tried to calm herself down when she saw the look on Dawn's face.

"What's wrong?" Mary Anne asked Dawn in a softer voice. She knew that there was something very wrong.

"I might be pregnant," Dawn stated in a small voice. Mary Anne stared at her stepsister, now knowing what to think.

Mary Anne had spent months cursing Dawn for all the things she did to Mary Anne, cursing her for destroying a good friendship. She had wanted karma to rain down on Dawn, but Mary Anne had never truly believed in karma. Now she felt horrible. She didn't want this for Dawn.

"Have you taken any pregnancy tests?" Mary Anne asked softly. "I assume you've already missed your period but could it be stress?"

Dawn looked at Mary Anne in shock. She didn't seem to understand why Mary Anne was acting like cared. Mary Anne wasn't sure why she cared. "I took a take home test and it said yes but I haven't gone to the doctor yet."

Mary Anne stood shocked. "Oh well, why are you guys arguing so much about it? Just get her to the doctor and go from there."

Sharon glared at Mary Anne but Mary Anne chose to ignore her and went to her room. She really didn't see how any of this involved her. Dawn would be going back to California in August no matter what.

Mary Anne laid on her bed, feeling suddenly very exhausted. Dawn might be pregnant? She didn't know what to think about that.

Think about something else, Mary Anne thought desperately. Work. Yes, she would be starting work tomorrow at the bookstore. She was more than excited, even if all she did was stock shelves. She didn't think she could handle staying in this suffocating house for much longer after all.

The phone rang and a few moments later, Mr. Spier called up the stairs. "It's for you Mary Anne. Remember you are grounded."

Mary Anne had completely forgotten, but she assumed that she could still talk on the phone.

"Thanks, dad. Who is it?"

"Stacey." He left the room and then he turned back. "Don't talk for long."

Mary Anne smiled and said. "Hi, Stace."

"So, what's going on?" Stacey asked, in her gossipy voice.

"Well, that didn't take you long," Mary Anne said, sarcastically.

Stacey laughed. "Well, you know me, so give me the dirt."

"Dawn might be pregnant," Mary Anne spilled, knowing that Stacey wouldn't tell anybody. She kept a lot of secrets despite her liking of gossip.

Silence. And then a crash. "What?!"

"That's almost how I felt," Mary Anne grumbled.

"Oh my gosh," Stacey said this time. "Wow." She snorted. "It's kind of ironic though."

"What?" Mary Anne asked, surprised at the change of tone.

"Well, she went on and on about how you were a slut, which is ridiculous (not that you are a prude), and then she ends up pregnant. Karma is a bitch," Stacey said, almost gleefully.

"Just because you become pregnant doesn't make you a slut," Mary Anne spoke up.

"Oh, I know," Stacey sighed. "I've had a pregnancy scare but it still is kind of funny."

Mary Anne started to laugh, to her surprise. Then, she immediately felt bad about it. Stacey laughed as well. Stacey was, genuinely, a good person, but she had a very vindictive streak.

Stacey and Dawn hated each other. They hadn't always hated each other. In fact, they were never particularly close in Middle School but they would have been considered friends. It was mostly Dawn and Mary Anne that were close. Dawn had, apparently, done something with Stacey's last boyfriend. Mary Anne wasn't entirely sure if that 'something' was a kiss or more, but she knew that she shouldn't be all that judgmental after the Logan debacle.

"Well, anyways, I just wanted to check up on you and make sure that you weren't murdered. You are okay, aren't you?" Stacey sounded concerned, suddenly.

"Just the normal bitching between my dearest stepmother and I," snorted Mary Anne.

Mary Anne could picture Stacey rolling her eyes. Stacey scoffed, "Bitch. Well, I really have to go. My boyfriend looks like he wants to strangle me. Hmm, I'll have to make it up to him."

"Ew, don't tell me that!"

"Bye, oh innocent one," Stacey said through the phone. Mary Anne rolled her eyes again but said 'Bye' in response, before hanging up.

Mary Anne sighed. She didn't know what to do with her time now. She knew that she couldn't leave the house and calling Logan would probably be pushing her luck. Thinking about Logan brought back the memory of the very bizarre cop experience last night. Mary Anne was concerned that Logan was getting into something dangerous. She knew that she was being ridiculous, but she had a very bad feeling. The gang activity and the strange cops. This summer was turning out to be a great summer so far, Mary Anne thought sarcastically. A pregnant stepsister, strange boyfriend activity, Kristy being gone all summer, Sharon, and a ton of other issues. She had no idea of how badly her summer would turn out to be.

**Notes: I am so sorry that this took so long to get up! I am afraid my next chapter might take a while as well. I'm moving into my new apartment and then starting my second year of college. Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please, read and review. Oh and I want to warn you: one person dies in this story (not anytime soon, but a fair warning.)**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: I do not own anything written by Ann M. Martin.**_

Chapter 8

Crash. "Shh, we don't want to be caught," one male voice spoke, in the late night to one of his partners in crime.

"Shut up, let's just do what we have too and leave," another, more nervous, voice spoke. "Let's just rob them and go."

"Can't we have a little fun as well?" sneered a third voice, looking around with dark eyes.

"We should hope that," the nervous voice said, over the sneering voice. "only the store clerk is there, its late enough."

"You're no fun," the sneering voice rang out, smacking his 'friend' on the back of the head.

"He told us to get the money and leave, no hurting people if we can help it," growled the first voice, who was watching the other two darkly. This guy was the leader of the operation and he didn't like nonsense arguments. He was a no nonsense type of guy.

"Why do we have to do this?" the nervous voice said softly, he was the youngest of the three at fifteen years old.

"Because he'll kill us, dimwit," the sneering voice growled. "He needs the damn money and other stuff for his plans."

The nervous one rolled his eyes. He really didn't like the idea of having to, potentially, put his future on the line for a psycho. The lead gang member was absolutely horrifying though. Nobody ever wanted to cross him. He cared about very little: his girlfriend, his little brother, and, luckily, his gang members. **How could this have happened in StoneyBrook? Since when had this place become a place of gang activity**?

At least that was what the nervous one had thought when he had first heard about a gang in StoneyBrook. He had scoffed, but his brother and his brother's friend had gotten involved so here he was…about to rob a place, the coolness of a gun resting on his hip. Please, don't make me use it, thought the fifteen year old.

He looked over at his sneering older brother and then at the other boy. The other boy, his brother's friend, was sixteen years old but he was the leader of the operation despite not being the oldest. He was, in fact, the second in command in the gang. The nervous one liked his brother's friend, though, he kept the gang from going completely overboard. He was the one with the moral conscience.

"Relax," the sixteen year old spoke to the nervous one, squeezing his shoulder, he glanced at the gun. "you won't have to use that. I will take care of it if it comes down to that."

The nervous one felt very relieved to have the sixteen year old there. Everything would be ok. It had to be.

The next morning…

Mary Anne Spier woke up to the beeping of her alarm clock. She groaned when she looked at the time. She had to get ready for her first day of work. She was starting at nine am. Sighing, Mary Anne stumbled out of bed and wandered out into the hallway so that she could take a shower.

"Hi, Dawn," Mary Anne said to her stepsister, when the ran into each other in the hallway. "Why are you already up?"

Dawn glared at Mary Anne. "Doctor's appointment at 9:30."

Mary Anne shrugged. "Well, good luck on that," Mary Anne said, civilly. "I hope that everything works out."

"Move!" Dawn growled at Mary Anne when Mary Anne proceeded to the bathroom. "I was going to take a shower!"

"Well, I'm sorry but I have to get out here earlier than you do and I was here first," Mary Anne said, calmly. She knew that pregnant women were prone to mood swings so Dawn's attitude didn't really bother her. Mary Anne shut the door in Dawn's face and locked it causing Dawn to throw a temper tantrum.

Great, Mary Anne thought to herself. Now, she's going to run to mommy.

Sure enough, when Mary Anne wandered out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later, Dawn was throwing smug looks at Mary Anne and Sharon was glaring at Mary Anne.

Mary Anne ignored her scowling stepmother and slammed her door behind her when she arrived in her bedroom. She was so sick of the people in this house. She understood, in a way, why Sharon was so angry all the time. Some truly tragic things had recently occurred in her life but why did she have to take it out on Mary Anne?

Mary Anne knew that she was a scapegoat and with Dawns, apparent, pregnancy, she would continue to be a scapegoat. Mary Anne got dressed, ran a brush through her hair, and then proceeded downstairs to get a bite to eat and look at the newspaper.

When she arrived in the kitchen she saw her dad making eggs and bacon and some toast.

"Hey, Mary Anne," Mr. Spier said. "Why don't you sit down, your breakfast is almost done."

"My breakfast? You didn't have to," Mary Anne said, startled.

"Of course I do. Besides I can do something nice for my daughter, can't I?" Mr. Spier said.

Mary Anne felt very confused but decided not to question an already made breakfast. Shrugging, she looked at the StoneyBrook newspaper and then almost spat out her hot chocolate. A robbery? At the town gun store? Mary Anne felt a thrill of terror. They hadn't caught the perpetrators. Why had they stolen an arsenal of guns? What were they planning to do with them? The stolen money wasn't really all that shocking though, the guns were what scared Mary Anne.

Since when had StoneyBrook become a dangerous place? This wasn't New York City for crying out loud, thought Mary Anne.

"You read that article, Sweetie?" Mr. Spier said, quietly, watching his daughter.

Mary Anne nodded her head.

"The authorities say that they were teenagers to their best knowledge, around your age," Mr. Spier spoke up. "Have you noticed anything odd?"

"No," Mary Anne said while her father placed the plateful of food in front of her. He nodded and picked up the business section of the newspaper leaving Mary Anne to her thoughts.

Had she noticed anybody acting odd? Not to her knowledge, but Mary Anne hadn't really paid all that much attention to anybody around her lately. She had been to busy keeping her head down in shame.

An hour later when Mary Anne was on her way to work by way of her boyfriends car. Logan had been a little irritated that he had to take her work…not that he **had** too. He seemed tired.

"I'm sorry," Mary Anne spoke up in the tense silence. "I didn't know who else to call and I knew that you had work at ten so I figured you'd be awake."

Logan turned towards for a split second, when they stopped at a red light, and smiled. "I know, I'm not irritated with you, I was just up late last night."

Mary Anne nodded, feeling a little unsettled. Didn't the robbery happen late last night? She knew that Logan had nothing to do with it, but did he know who did do it? Mary Anne told herself that she was being ridiculous.

"You nervous?" Logan asked Mary Anne.

Mary Anne, not for the first time, the fluttering in her stomach that was making her nauseous. "Yeah."

"You'll do fine," Logan spoke reassuringly as he parked in front of the bookstore. "Go get 'em." He leaned over and kissed her.

Smiling, she got out of the car a few minutes later at 8:52 am. He winked at her before he drove off. "I'll pick you up at five."

She waved at him and then walked up to the door of the small bookstore. A smiling woman greeted Mary Anne when she walked into the quaint little bookstore.

"Hey there. Are you Mary Anne?" the smiling lady asked.

"Yes, Ma'am," Mary Anne answered politely.

"Oh please don't call me 'ma'am' it makes me feel old. Call me Leanne." The kind woman spoke in a soft voice. "I'm going to train you on the cash register this morning and this afternoon I'm going to need some help with stocking the shelves with newer books that came in this morning."

Mary Anne started her day after that. By that afternoon, Mary Anne was smiling. She felt that she would really enjoy this job. Leanne was a really sweet woman. She was a little taller than Mary Anne, around thirty, had red, curly hair and blue eyes. She was a cute woman.

Mary Anne looked out the window when she was stocking the shelves to notice someone across the street watching the bookstore. When she looked back, the person was gone but Mary Anne felt very nervous after that. The rest of the day passed with no further incident and Mary Anne forgot about the mysterious person across the street.

When Logan picked Mary Anne up, his two friends Dylan and Kevin were sitting in the back seat chatting.

"How was it?" Logan asked when Mary Anne slid into the car.

"It was a lot of fun," Mary Anne answered simply. "Leanne, my boss, is really nice."

"Man, I wish my boss would let me call him by his first name," Logan said, smilingly. Logan had been working at the local grocery store for several months and his boss was a real hard ass. Mary Anne wondered if he was the same guy that had been shot last night. She looked over at Logan, figuring that he would have said something if the guy had been shot. "The assistant manager was working today."

Hmm, so maybe the manager **had** been shot. "Did you hear about the robbery last night?" Mary Anne asked Logan.

Logan glanced at his girlfriend while Dylan and Kevin's conversation faltered for a second. But Mary Anne felt like she had been imagining it because Dylan and Kevin continued to talk about some (American) football game. Logan only answered with a "Yeah. I don't know who was shot though."

Mary Anne nodded again. She didn't know if she believed it.

"Do you want to go out on Wednesday night?" Logan asked Mary Anne, changing the subject.

"Of course," Mary Anne said, allowing the change of subject.

Grinning, Logan turned back to the front of the car. Dylan and Kevin were silent now as well.

"We on for tonight, Logan?" asked Dylan, ignoring Mary Anne.

"Yeah, the movie should be good," Logan said, and looking at Mary Anne, he laughed. "It's a horror movie."

Mary Anne shuttered. She absolutely hated horror movies and Logan knew that. When they went to the movies they usually watched an action or romance film.

"See you on Wednesday at seven," Logan shouted out the window, when Mary Anne reached her doorstep several minutes later.

"Bye, see you on Wednesday," Mary Anne answered. "I love you." She said the last part softly, so he didn't hear her. Those words shocked her, she didn't realize that she loved him.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a shriek in the house. Groaning, Mary Anne realized that some type of fight was raging inside the house, again. She definitely didn't want to be part of the fight, but she was grounded so she had to go in. She knew that her father was at work still because his car wasn't parked in the driveway. She felt unprepared for the assault she would have to endure when she went into the house.

Two pairs of glaring eyes met Mary Anne's when she opened and shut the door behind her. Surprisingly, neither Sharon nor Dawn said a word to Mary Anne except to say that Dawn was pregnant 'thanks to Mary Anne's bad influence.' Mary Anne didn't feel like that was worthy of any answer on her part.

Jeff was sitting in his bedroom reading a book when Mary Anne passed his doorway on the way to her bedroom. "Hey, kid. How are you doing?"

Jeff glared at Mary Anne. "I am not a kid!"

"Sorry, how are you, oh so old one?"

"Fine," Jeff answered. "the two of them have been fighting off and on all day."

"It will be all fine," Mary Anne said. "Dawn will get through the pregnancy."

"I know," Jeff grumbled. "But everything is always about Dawn and I'm sick of it. And, now, I can't even complain because she is going through something truly terrible for a sixteen year old."

"Yeah," Mary Anne responded. "I want to yell at her at times like this morning, but I then I feel bad."

"She got into this situation by herself," Jeff said, rather maturely. "She needs to handle it."

"She'll still need support," Mary Anne said.

Jeff shrugged and mumbled, "I guess."

Hours later, Mary Anne was in bed thinking about her day. Dawn being pregnant, Logan's odd behavior, the shooting/robbery, and her new job were all on her mind.

**NOTES: Here's chapter eight. The story just got into the more interesting part. There wasn't a whole lot of Logan/Mary Anne but there relationship is very important to this story. There were a lot of hints dropped in this chapter. I hope that you enjoyed it. Please read and review and I'll try and update soon. **


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